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Username  dilusContact Info No contact information available. Comments
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Published On: 06-18-2009 07:34 PM
Blog Category: No Category Blog Tags: formula 1 Hi All, OK I can't put this off any longer. My other passion away from Poker is Formula 1. I have been watching it for over 30 years and the sad sack that I am, in all that time I can't remember missing a race either live or televised. I am very lucky due to the fact that, although she has no interest whatsoever in Poker my wife of nearly 20 years, Jayne is as passionate about F1 as I am. I have no connections to F1 other than the fact a relative of Jayne used to work for Renault F1 and we have been lucky enough to get invited to a few test sessions at Silverstone over the years. There is nothing better to an F1 fan than getting up close and personal with an F1 car being used in earnest. The TV just doesn't give the noise that they produce justice, you have to be stood next to one to believe it, you can feel the noise pound on your chest and it does literally hurt your ears if you are as close as I have been lucky enough to get. When I say close I have witnessed Fernando Alonso doing practice starts in the pit lane heading straight towards me from 30 feet away, turning at the last moment to avoid running over my foot, that is close! lol The test sessions are (or rather were) more exciting than the races due to being able to get close to the teams and the drivers, they are far more relaxed during testing and if done with respect are quite approachable. My staircase at home is a shrine to F1 and I have numerous signed items from Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Heikki Kovalinen and Fernando Alonso, the later two were good enough to pose for pictures with my two daughters and both signed my pit crew shirt whilst I was wearing it, that is now framed and takes pride of place in my collection of memorabilia. I once remember, again at a test at Silverstone having a 10 minute chat with Alex Zanardi, he came over to F1 to drive for Williams after winning the Champ Car series in the US the previous year, attempting to do the same as Nigel Mansell and win the two series back to back. Unfortunately he had a shocking year with Williams and I asked him if he was missing the Champ Cars and he replied " I am certainly missing the wins" he duly gave me his autograph before wishing me well lol. Alex Zanardi went back to the US the following year to Indy Racing and had a horrific, near fatal accident at Lautzring in Germany, where you might remember he lost both of his legs, he was read the last rites and I was watching that race live on TV when it happened, I remembered back to how nice the man was when I met him and thankfully he made a remarkable recovery and went on to get back into racing in the German DTM series, unbelievable courage. My sadest memory over the 30 years was the death of Ayrton Senna, to me he was the greatest driver (of his era) and was a role model for me when I used to compete in motorsport myself. His determination and tunnel vision at going about his job was remarkable yet in real life away from F1 was a very generous man doing great things for the children in his home country of Brazil, something that continues to this day in his memory. I will admit to actually crying on the fateful day, again witnessing the crash live on TV. If there was one person I wish I could have met on this planet, it was Ayrton. I will always remember him as I had his famous helmet design tattoed on my arm in his memory. Over the years I have been fortunate to get to a few races thanks to a few competition wins. The British GP at Silverstone in 2004 with full hospitality and Grandstand seats to watch Schumacher win in the Ferrari, then three years later in 07 Jayne and I went to Malaysia to watch Fernando Alonso win with Lewis Hamilton 2nd, again this was a competition win. with thanks to fellow forumer sasas, (cheers m8) full hospitality again and 5 nights in the most amazing city of Kuala Lumpur. This you might think would be difficult to top and it is but the most memorable trip Jayne and I have had was again another competition win to go the the home of Ferrari in Maranello in 2005, we were given a full guided tour of the fantastic Ferrari factory where they build not only the road cars but the F1 cars. This was a money can't buy experience as most of their own employees have never seen the F1 section and we were not allowed to take any photos within the F1 workshop, after the factory tour we were taken across the road to Ferrari's own test track Fiorano (literally outside the factory gates) and to our disbelief they were giving a Ferrari 3 seater F1 car it's very first shakedown, it had done 1 lap in the morning and our guide Carlo, who was high up within the Ferrari ranks asked the test driver to do one lap infront of Jayne and myself. This was 3 weeks before even the press knew anything about it (unreal) and we were sworn to secrecy about it, me being me I asked Carlo if Jayne and I could get in the two passenger seats and do a lap in it but Im afraid that was asking too much. I did manage to smuggle my camera out and get one shot of Enzo Ferrari's office in the middle of the circuit at Fiorano which I have posted on Google Earth. This trip was so exclusive I don't think it could be topped, and having been a lifelong Ferrari fan was the tops as far as I am concerned, by the way my only other tattoo is the Ferrari emblem on my right arm, told you I was a sad sack lol. Anyway that's my experience of F1 so far but it doesn't stop there. I have just recently won an auction in aid of charity for tickets to this years Santander British Grand Prix at Silverstone with full hospitality in the Fangio Restaurant in Vale and Jayne and I will be there rooting for Jensen Button to do the business for Brawn GP. I will be wearing my Renault shirt and hat (they have been good to me over the years)so if you see me on TV sat on our private terrace sipping a glass of red give us a wave, report will follow. GO GO JENSEN  dilus0 Comments
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